Why?
by Dragonrider2203
Summary: A collection of one-shots revolving around the unanswered questions in the Transformers movie-verse. Chapter Two: Why wasn't Sunstreaker in ROTF?
1. Why wasn't Barricade at Mission City?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, unless I happen to be asleep and dreaming.**

**This fic is going to a collection of one-shots which represent what I think are the answers to all the plot-holes and unanswered questions in the Transformers movie-verse. I have no idea how many of these one-shots there are going to be, and updating is going to be erratic (basically each fic will be posted after the plot-bunny has hit and I've found time to write it) so please don't bug me for updates and feel free to suggest your own ideas.**

Why wasn't Barricade in the battle of Mission City? 

(And why was Bonecrusher was in ROTF? – Did anyone else notice him in Egypt?)

Barricade drew back into the shadows as Optimus Prime took one last look around, before transforming and heading onwards towards Mission City. The Decepticon waited until Prime was out of sight before moving cautiously towards the metallic corpse strewn on the highway. Bonecrusher may look offline, but the Saleen had been attacked by plenty of mechs he had thought spark-dead. Once he was sure that it was safe, he approached the other Decepticon. Not wasting any more time, Barricade quickly started patching energon and coolant lines, after checking the mech's spark was still alight.

Barricade once again thanked Primus that he had at least some medical training. He had been half way through the course at Iacon's Medical Academy when the war had broken out; therefore he was the most qualified medic in the Decepticon army.

Once he had Bonecrusher stabilised, Barricade ran a quick scan to ascertain the damage. The mine clearer's CPU was completely trashed of course (what do you expect with having your head ripped off?) and his fork-arm had been ripped off, but otherwise the mech was in fairly good condition. Barricade did a quick internet search, before taking up as much of Bonecrusher's weight as possible and heading west. His web search had flagged up an abandoned warehouse only 1.5km from their current position.

Five minutes later (and rather large amounts of scuffed paint, on both their parts) Barricade had his comrade securely hidden. The cruiser started to work on the damaged CPU, glad he had persuaded Megatron to make all the Decepticons frequently back-up their memory files all those vorns ago. The former Lord Protector hadn't originally seen the point, but Barricade had argued that it was much easier to get new parts than it was battle experience; especially enough experience to take on some of the trickier Autobots.

**:: Barricade! Get your aft here now!:: **

The comlink interrupted Barricade's work, Megatron's harsh voice ringing in his audio receptors. He vented air, similar to a human sigh, but left his patient to follow his orders.

The Saleen had only taken a couple of steps, reaching as far as the warehouse doorway, when a sudden, painful surge to his spark brought him to his knee-plates. Surges continued to roll through his chassis, filling his HUD with error messages.

_#Error – connection to 845329R-721 failed#_

_#Attempting connection to 845329R-721#_

_#Error – connection to 845329R-721 failed#_

_#Attempting connection to 845329R-721#_

_#Error – connection to 845329R-721 failed#_

_#Attempting connection to 845329R-721#_

_#Error – connection to 845329R-721 failed#_

With every failed attempt to connect, another surge rolled from his spark and through his frame. Systems began to overheat and Barricade could feel the coolant rushing around his lines. He knew what this meant:

_Frenzy_

Barricade and Soundwave had been friends before the war, and had even tried having a relationship; however, they hadn't quite been compatible. Even so, the cruiser was one of the very few mechs Soundwave trusted, with himself **and **his cassettes. So when Megatron had needed at least one of the tiny mechs with the crew of the Nemesis, which would follow him on the path of the All-spark, Soundwave (who needed to remain behind to co-ordinate all the Decepticon teams) had entrusted Frenzy's care to Barricade.

The cassettes, Frenzy especially, were made small and slim to allow infiltration; however this meant they had only the most vital components. Therefore, they had to be connected to a larger mech to ensure their survival. The caretaker provided protection (both physical and mental), energon feeds and transportation.

The system provided excellent spies and saboteurs, but the downside of it was that it required at least a partial spark-bond. The bond wasn't as closely linked as between spark-mates or twins, more like a creator or brother bond. Soundwave had trusted Barricade enough that the communications mech had allowed what was essentially his child to form such an intimate connection to the shock trooper. A connection which allowed the caretaker to monitor their charge, but also caused great pain when severed. Which was now happening to the Saleen.

Barricade's last thought, before the heat and pain running through his systems forced him into stasis lock, was:

_I'm sorry Soundwave. I failed._

**Reviews are not required, but definitely are appreciated.**


	2. Why wasn't Sunstreaker in ROTF?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, but I'm fragging jealous of whoever does.**

**For me the most annoying thing about ROTF was the fact they had Sideswipe without Sunstreaker. I really like Sideswipe, especially after reading "91 cents to a Million Friendship" by serindarkwolf19; an awesome fic I would recommend everyone reads.**

**I'm hoping to write more of these, but I'm out of ideas so any input would be welcome.**

**Enjoy!**

Why wasn't Sunstreaker in Revenge of the Fallen?

Astro-sec – 0.498 seconds

Stellar cycle – ~7.5 months

::... and from the electrical signals I'm picking up from the moon, it appears to have a vast bio-botanical neural network. Imagine that, an entire planet's inhabitants connected together...:: Sideswipe ignored Jolt's ramblings as they floated through space, past the large moon of a very large blue gas planet which was the object of the young mech's interest.

::That's all – very well – but are there – any readings – of All-spark – radiation?:: Arcee interrupted, her words switching from pink to purple to blue component and back again.

_That still creeps me out_ Sideswipe sent over the bond to his twin. _Sunny? Sunstreaker!_ The yellow twin wasn't paying any attention to him, instead staring intently out into space.

_Shut up Sides! Listen for an astro-sec_ was all Sideswipe got in reply. Taking heed of his brother's unusually urgent tone, the red mech hissed at the other to be quiet and listen before taking his own advice. The trio scanned the long-range Autobot radio frequencies until they picked up what Sunstreaker was hearing.

::... more than meets the eye. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here... we are waiting:: The broadcast voice of their leader halted as a string of coded co-ordinates was transmitted, and then the entire message started playing again. The quartet listened in shock as the message looped a couple more times before Jolt broke the silence.

::The All-spark's gone?::

::A new home:: the three Arcee components whispered in unison, wonder and hope evident in their voices. Sideswipe, who was actually smarter than he looked (how else would he pull off such awesome pranks?), quickly un-encrypted the co-ordinates included in Prime's message.

::That's only just over 4 light-years from here,:: he said out loud, drawing the attention of his comrades. ::We could be there within two stellar cycles::

::Well, what are we waiting for:: Jolt asked, staring wide-eyed at the others. They all looked at one another and grinned, before preparing to leave. They would make their way past the asteroid belt, which orbited the furthest reaches of the binary system, before assuming their comet-like form and assuming a course heading towards this "Earth".

**

They were just exiting the asteroid belt when three Decepticon signals appeared from where they had been masked by one of the larger rocks. Sideswipe instantly span around and peered in the direction of the enemy. All it took was a flash of silver, purple and blue for the red twin to identify them.

::Seekers!:: Sunstreaker shouted across the comm-link as he came to the same conclusion as his brother. Sideswipe could feel his brother's battle-rage growing across the bond, so he promptly sent him some calming feelings. He knew that they needed strategy rather than brute force right now.

He quickly assessed what he knew of the Seekers and also his comrades. Starscream, he knew, was the most dangerous of the trine, Thundercracker was smaller but also cunning and fast, while Skywarp was strong but also slow and stupid. Sideswipe made his decision.

::Sunny, you take Screamer. Jolt, you get 'Warp. I'll take TC. Arcee, stand ready to help whoever needs it::

The others acknowledged his orders silently, having been together long enough to know the red twin was in charge when fighting, although Arcee was the official team leader.

Sideswipe began preparing as the Seekers drew closer, warming up his jetpack and deploying his twin blades. He knew the others were doing the same, although he couldn't hear them in the vacuum of space. It wasn't long before the Decepticons were in range.

The red mech fired his jetpack, aiming at the blue jet on the left. He reached top speed as he smacked, blades first, into Thundercracker. He sent a wordless exclamation of triumph across the twin-bond, receiving another in return as his brother collided with Starscream. A flash of blue brought Sideswipe's attention back to the fight, just in time to dodge the pulse cannon blast heading his way. The Autobot dove back into the fight with a snarl, his right blade scraping against Thundercracker's leg armour while his left sword took out a sensor array. The Decepticon retaliated with a clawed hand gouging into the red mech's shoulder armour. The two opponents swirled around each other, exchanging blows, neither gaining the upper hand.

::Arggh!:: Sideswipe broke away at the scream that rang out across the comm. He turned, rapidly assessing the other battles. Sunstreaker was doing well against Starscream, the Decepticon looking ready to pull his signature cowardly get-away. Two of the Arcee components were harrying Skywarp, driving him away from the third... who was desperately trying to patch Jolt's severed energon lines.

The blue mech was drifting in space, offline and leaking generous bubbles of bright blue energon. As Sideswipe watched the Arcee component managed to fix the primary line but, as she was reaching for a secondary, she suddenly stiffened and then collapsed. The red twin looked around to see Skywarp knocking the second Arcee component into an asteroid, the first already floating nearby, temporarily offline. He could also see the Seeker's arm beginning to transform into a cannon, aiming for one of spark chamber of the nearest Arcee component.

Sideswipe was horrified; if the jet killed one of them, the others would die too, and then Jolt would die because neither of the twins knew more than the most basic field repairs. The red twin fired up his jetpack, intending to attack Skywarp from behind when he was tackled by the blue Decepticon.

Now unable to get to Skywarp in time, Sideswipe urgently sent the image of the purple jet preparing to fire along the bond to his twin. Sunstreaker immediately broke away from his fight, firing a missile into Starscream's chest to disable him before flying towards Skywarp, colliding with him from behind. Sideswipe threw himself into the fight with Thundercracker, relieved his brother was handling it, but was immediately distracted by a flash of bright light, and a sudden emptiness in his half-spark.

_SUNSTREAKER!!_

He searched, with his optics and his spark, for his twin; but all he saw was empty space and the tell-tale shimmer of light, the result of a warp jump. Skywarp had teleported, taking the yellow twin with him. Sideswipe, half blinded with rage at the loss of his brother, turned on the one who had stopped him getting there first: Thundercracker.

The red Autobot threw himself at the blue jet, fighting with no heed to what he was doing, or what injuries he received in turn. Unable to stop until:

_SIDESWIPE!!_

The mental shout, reduced to a mere whisper by the distance, brought the red twin to his senses, leaving an offline and severely injured Thundercracker, while there was no sign of Starscream.

_Sunny? You're alive?_

_No, I'm a glitch in your processor. Of course I'm alive! Couldn't say the same for 'Warp though._

_O thank Primus! Where are you?_ Sideswipe relaxed, checking on Arcee and Jolt while Sunstreaker worked out his location. The first Arcee component was back online and working on bringing the second round, while the third had snapped out of her shock and had gone back to performing field repairs on Jolt.

_I'm about 4 light-years away, in the opposite direction to Earth_. _Should take about 2 stellar cycles to get to where you are._

_Slag! I don't think Jolt can last that long. I'll check with Arcee._ Sideswipe blinked his optics in annoyance. He knew they needed to get the electric blue mech to a proper medic as soon as possible, and the nearest medic was Ratchet on Earth. Frag! This was going to hurt.

::Arcee, can Jolt survive another 3 and a half stellar-cycles? Long enough for Sunny to catch up?::

::Very unlikely:: was the immediate reply from the third component. ::We need to get him to Ratchet as soon as possible. He should survive the journey in comet mode; but the longer we wait, the less likely it is he will.:: All three Arcee components looked towards and said in unison ::I'm sorry Sideswipe:: The red twin looked back at them, before blinking again and returning his attention to his brother.

_Sunny..._

_It's ok Sides, I understand_ Sunstreaker interrupted, sounding unusually gentle. _Jolt's a good mech, even if he annoys me. We can't just sacrifice one of our friends so that we can stay together. I'll be right behind you, and woe betide any Decepticon that tries to change that! _Sunstreaker's voice regained its usual arrogance towards the end of what was an extraordinarily emotional speech for the yellow mech. Sideswipe was silent for a few astro-secs, contemplating what his brother said, before reluctantly agreeing.

_I'll see you when you get to Earth then bro'_ Sideswipe said cheerily, trying to lighten the mood, but failed miserably as his brother deepened the bond, merging their minds together. They revelled in the connection for an instant, sharing their emotions, thoughts and memories, holding each other in a mental embrace. _Love ya_ Sideswipe sent across the bond.

_Love ya too_ was the faint reply, and then the bond dissipated to a tiny thread as Sunstreaker folded into his comet mode; enough of a connection that they knew the other was alive, but otherwise completely separate.

Sideswipe stared blankly into space for a moment, fighting to subdue the raging pain in his half-spark caused by their almost total separation. When he was in control enough to function, he turned back to find Arcee had completed field repairs on Jolt and had forced the mech into stasis lock. She had also overridden his transformation controls, making the blue mech convert to cometary mode. The third component was just finishing transmitting a code that would allow the stasis-locked processors to auto-correct Jolt's course. Once completed, apart from the final code to initiate, all three Arcee components turned towards Sideswipe.

::Jolt is ready::

::Acknowledged:: Sideswipe said emotionlessly, dreading what he was about to do. ::Autobots, roll out!::

**Please Read & Review. Also energon goodies for anyone who can guess the planet Jolt is talking about at the beginning.**


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